Many people enjoy koi fish in their landscaping ponds.

The fish grow large, are colorful, and thrive well in the outdoor pond environment.

Some pond owners choose to breed the fish to stock their own garden ponds.

Others choose to breed koi fish as a profit making business.

No matter which reason you select to raise koi, it is essential to gain an educated understanding of the fish.

First, koi breeders must learn the appropriate times for breeding.

No matter where you live in the United States, the best months to breed your koi fish are between April and July.

The next step is choosing your fish.

Of course, you will want to stock your breeding pond with both male and female koi.

Males can be identified by the spots on their gill covers and pectoral fins.

Females will have larger abdomens during the breeding season.

When breeding koi fish, it is important to select males and females that are about the same size.

Females need to be at least two years old for breeding purposes.

The ideal age for breeding a female is around four years old.

If the female is too young, the eggs will be thin and there is a less likely chance the baby will survive.

You also do not want the fish to be too old for breeding.

Older fish have eggs that are too hard for the sperm to penetrate.

However, fifteen year old koi have been successfully bred.

Set up your breeding environment so that there is approximately one male fish for every female fish.

Make certain that males do not outnumber the females over 2 to 1.

Some form of either synthetic or natural decoration should be used in the tank or pond.

Outdoor ponds often work well with using water hyacinths.

It may be a good idea to place a net over your outdoor pond to keep insects out and to prevent the fish from jumping onto the sides.

Spawning can be recognized by a cloudiness of the water and a strong odor.

A koi fish may produce over a thousand eggs at a time.

It is important to protect these eggs from adult fish.

Spawning ropes may be used to move the eggs to a safe area and wait for hatching.

The hatching of the eggs typically occurs in a week.

A month or so after the fish have hatched, it is best to begin culling out fish that are not of good and high quality stock.

Continue culling out the fish that are acceptable breeders every week or so until you have a high quality pond of new fish.

These fish will serve as new breeders for future breeding.

It important to keep in mind that only about half of your baby koi will live to reach their adulthood life.

Taking care of your fish will help maintain a high quality for the future generation of koi.

Breeding koi can be a wonderful and exciting business or hobby.

However, it is not a task that should be taken lightly. Raising koi takes work in order to ensure that the highest quality of fish are produced.